We often hear the phrase, “May you live in interesting times.” This saying can be seen as either a curse or a blessing. If you’re afraid of change, it might feel like a curse. However, if you embrace change, it can be a blessing that helps you grow beyond your current self. Personally, I see it as a blessing. As I observe my own aging body, with its wrinkles and marks, I find beauty in these changes. Instead of seeing them as flaws, I view them as part of the natural beauty of life.
Change is an inherent part of nature’s beauty. The question is, can you see yourself as part of this beauty? Can you embrace changes, find joy in them, and seek the wisdom they bring, rather than resisting them? It’s about balancing the care for your body while also being ready to let go when the time comes.
Rainer Maria Rilke once said that the most remarkable thing is to hold death in one hand and continue to live with peace. This means accepting the natural cycle of life, which includes birth and death, gain and loss, and pleasure and pain. Are you ready to embrace these changes?
Let me share a story: Once, a sparrow decided not to migrate south for the winter. As the weather grew colder, he reluctantly began his journey. Ice formed on his wings, and he fell into a barnyard, nearly frozen. A cow passed by and covered him with manure. Initially, the sparrow thought it was the end, but the warmth of the manure defrosted his wings. Feeling warm and happy, he began to sing. A cat heard him, cleared away the manure, and ate him.
The moral of this story is threefold:
In today’s world, with its ecological issues and violence, it can feel overwhelming. The question is, can you find happiness and then act, or do you need to act to find happiness? If you wait for the world to be perfect before you allow yourself to be happy, you might miss the point. Sometimes, even at peace rallies, you see people filled with anger.
It’s important to find a balance between accepting the world as it is and working towards a just and compassionate society. Can you see the world as perfect while still striving to improve it? What does that perfection include? Does it include the truth of your heart?
How do you deal with suffering, both your own and others’? You might reach a point where you don’t invite suffering, but when it comes, you work with it. Suffering often arises from our mind’s attachments and aversions. If someone seeks freedom from suffering, it’s essential to help them, even though new challenges will arise. The goal is to help them understand the root of suffering, which is often ignorance of our interconnectedness.
The teachings of dharma aim to eliminate this ignorance. It’s not that separateness isn’t part of life, but identifying too strongly with it leads to suffering.
Living with uncertainty means embracing the mystery of life. We don’t truly know what happens after death. Faith is stepping into the unknown, trusting that either something solid will support you or you’ll learn to fly.
I live with this mystery and incredible faith. It’s about having a clear, discerning awareness that allows you to see the perfection in everything around you.
Take some time to write a reflective journal entry about a significant change in your life. Consider how you initially reacted to this change and how your perspective has evolved over time. Reflect on the beauty and wisdom you have gained from this experience. Share your insights with a classmate and discuss how embracing change can lead to personal growth.
Join a group discussion to explore Rainer Maria Rilke’s idea of holding death in one hand while living peacefully. Discuss how this philosophy can be applied to everyday life and the acceptance of life’s natural cycles. Consider how this perspective can influence your approach to challenges and changes.
Engage in a role-playing activity based on the story of the sparrow. Assign roles to different participants (sparrow, cow, cat) and act out the story. Afterward, discuss the moral lessons and how they relate to real-life situations. Reflect on the importance of perspective and understanding in interpreting actions and intentions.
Participate in a workshop focused on finding happiness in challenging times. Explore techniques such as mindfulness, gratitude, and positive reframing. Work in small groups to create a plan for maintaining happiness and peace in the face of personal and global challenges. Share your strategies with the class.
Engage in a seminar that delves into the concepts of suffering and compassion. Discuss how understanding the root causes of suffering can lead to greater compassion for yourself and others. Explore practical ways to cultivate compassion in your daily life and how this can transform your experience of change and uncertainty.
Here’s a sanitized version of the transcript:
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So we are living in interesting times. Remember the saying, “May you live in interesting times”? The question is whether it’s a curse or a blessing. It’s a curse if you’re afraid of change, but a blessing if you can use change to free yourself from your identification with that which changes. I really see it as a blessing. I mean, I look at this body, which is now aging at a fascinating rate. You can almost notice it from day to day. There are all these veins, wrinkles, and little marks. This is beauty if I look at it as a beautiful old hand. If I impose upon that all of my social structures and concepts, I might think, “That’s my hand,” which means I am my wrinkles and blood vessels.
So the question is: Is change beautiful? Is what changes part of the beauty of nature? Are you part of the beauty of nature? Can you allow the changes, delight in them, and look for the wisdom inherent in each change rather than resisting it? Can you work to preserve your body while also being ready to let it go?
Rilke says the most remarkable thing is to be able to hold death and continue to live, to be at peace with the way of things by cultivating the part of yourself that isn’t bound by time and space—birth and death, coming and going, loss and gain, fame and shame, pleasure and pain. Which ones are you ready for?
Somebody shared a story with me: Once upon a time, there was a non-conforming sparrow who decided not to fly south for the winter. However, soon the weather turned so cold that he reluctantly started to fly south. In a short time, ice began to form on his wings, and he fell to earth in a barnyard, almost frozen. A cow passed by and covered the little sparrow with manure. The sparrow thought it was the end, but the manure warmed him and defrosted his wings. Warm and happy, he started to sing. Just then, a large cat came by, heard the chirping, and investigated. The cat cleared away the manure, found the chirping bird, and promptly ate him.
The moral of this story has three points:
1. Not everyone who treats you poorly is your enemy.
2. Not everyone who helps you is your friend.
3. If you’re warm and happy in a difficult situation, keep your mouth shut.
So, partly this aging body and all the ecological issues, the violence, and everything else—it can feel overwhelming. Now, are you warm and happy? It’s interesting to consider whether you can be happy and then act, or if you can only act in order to be happy.
I can’t be happy unless all the issues in the world are resolved. But if I want to live in a happy world, maybe what I could contribute is happiness. If I set the condition that I can only be happy if I get a happy world, then I might miss the point. I go to peace rallies and sometimes see angry people there.
I believe that if this situation isn’t good enough, I’m in trouble. Can it be good enough while I also work hard to create a just and compassionate world? Are those incompatible? If you saw it as perfect, would you then not do anything? What would that perfection include? Would it include the truth of your heart?
It’s interesting how you deal with suffering and how you distinguish between your own suffering and someone else’s. You may reach a point in your spiritual work where you don’t invite suffering, but when it comes, you work with it. The only reason you’re suffering is because your mind has attractions and aversions; otherwise, it’s just change.
The value imposition has to do with the attachments of the mind. If someone says they want to be free of suffering, I must help them with what they experience as suffering, even though I know that once they are free of that suffering, they will encounter another. What I would love to do is help them get free from the source of suffering itself—the basic ignorance from which suffering arises.
The dharma is designed to eliminate the basic ignorance of separateness. It’s not that separateness isn’t part of the dance, but our identification with it is where the suffering comes from.
I think the game is to bear the unbearable with a sense of humor, with your heart breaking, and then do what you do. Trust your inner wisdom so that your actions come from the essence of what is, not from obligation. If you distrust the compassion of your heart, you may get caught in “oughts” and “shoulds.” If you don’t distrust it, you can surrender into it, and it will take care of what needs to be taken care of.
The statement in the Dao is that one does nothing and nothing is left undone. This means you can get very tired of being someone doing something. There’s a whole other way of being in which you are the thing itself, and whatever happens, happens. It’s the compassion that arises out of emptiness, the discriminating wisdom that you see when you stop trying so hard to be good, right, just, or compassionate.
More violence is done in the name of compassion than in many other contexts. Most people think they are good in one way or another; very few think they are evil.
To live with uncertainty, to live with not knowing, is to live at the edge of the mystery all the time. You and I don’t really know about death.
Someone handed me another thought: Faith is when you have come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step off into the darkness of the unknown. Faith is knowing one of two things will happen: there will be something solid to stand on, or you will be taught how to fly.
I live with the mystery and with incredible faith. It’s the clear, discriminating awareness from which perfection spreads before you.
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This version removes explicit language and maintains the essence of the original message.
Change – The process through which something becomes different, often discussed in philosophy as a fundamental aspect of reality and human experience. – In philosophy, Heraclitus famously argued that change is the only constant, suggesting that everything is in a state of flux.
Beauty – A characteristic of an object, idea, or experience that provides a perceptual or emotional response of pleasure or satisfaction, often explored in aesthetics. – Philosophers have long debated whether beauty is subjective or if it possesses an objective quality that transcends individual perception.
Happiness – A state of well-being and contentment, often considered a central goal in ethical theories and psychological studies. – Aristotle’s concept of eudaimonia suggests that true happiness is achieved through living a life of virtue and fulfilling one’s potential.
Suffering – The experience of physical or psychological pain, often examined in philosophy and psychology as a fundamental aspect of the human condition. – Existentialists like Sartre argue that suffering is an inevitable part of life, but it also provides an opportunity for personal growth and authenticity.
Compassion – A deep awareness of and sympathy for another’s suffering, often considered a virtue in ethical and psychological discussions. – In Buddhist philosophy, compassion is a key component of the path to enlightenment, encouraging individuals to alleviate the suffering of others.
Uncertainty – The state of being unsure or having doubts, a concept frequently explored in epistemology and decision-making theories. – Descartes’ method of doubt highlights the role of uncertainty in the pursuit of knowledge, questioning everything that can be doubted to find indubitable truths.
Faith – Belief or trust in something, especially without empirical evidence, often discussed in the context of religious or existential philosophy. – Kierkegaard viewed faith as a leap beyond reason, essential for a meaningful relationship with the divine.
Wisdom – The ability to think and act using knowledge, experience, understanding, and insight, often regarded as a key virtue in philosophical traditions. – Socrates believed that wisdom begins with the recognition of one’s own ignorance, prompting a lifelong pursuit of knowledge.
Interconnectedness – The state of being connected with each other, a concept explored in both philosophy and psychology to understand the relationships between individuals and the universe. – In systems theory, the interconnectedness of all elements suggests that changes in one part of a system can have far-reaching effects on the whole.
Acceptance – The act of embracing reality or circumstances without attempting to change or protest them, often discussed in existential and psychological contexts. – In existential philosophy, acceptance of one’s freedom and responsibility is crucial for living an authentic life.
